Union, Abortion Issues to Hit AT&T; Meeting : Telecommunications: Controversies over Planned Parenthood funding and worker layoffs will enliven the annual meeting.
The annual meetings of American Telephone & Telegraph, one of the nation’s largest and most widely held companies, understandably have often served as forums for discussion of pressing social issues. This week’s meeting will be no different.
The telecommunications and computer giant on Wednesday holds its annual meeting for the first time in Los Angeles, where shareholders will be met by angry union members protesting layoff policies and confronted with a vote on abortion.
Among a number of resolutions put on the agenda by individual shareholders--all opposed by AT&T;’s board--is one by abortion foe Shirley Leschin that directs the company “to refrain from support of any organizations that endorse, counsel or perform abortion.”
On the other hand, AT&T; also finds itself the subject of an angry full-page ad that the Planned Parenthood Federation of America ran in the New York Times on April 5. The same ad is scheduled to run Wednesday in the Los Angeles Times.
In the ad, the federation, a leading supporter of abortion rights, accused AT&T; of “corporate cowardice” for ending a longstanding $50,000 annual grant to the organization. (The Times’ rate for the full-page ad is $43,000.)
The ad calls AT&T;’s withdrawal of funds for Planned Parenthood’s educational programs aimed at preventing teen-age pregnancy a “shameful action” before concluding: “AT&T; advertises itself as ‘the right choice.’ It’s time to remind the company what the word really means.”
In a letter to AT&T; employees, the head of the AT&T; Foundation, the corporation’s philanthropic arm, defended last month’s decision to end its contribution to Planned Parenthood after 25 years because of the group’s “emphasis on abortion advocacy.”
“We don’t think a corporation should take a position on abortion, one way or the other,” wrote Marilyn Laurie. “It’s not a corporate issue. It’s a very private, personal matter.”
AT&T; denied that it caved in to groups opposing abortion.
If AT&T;’s attempts to distance itself from the abortion issue have angered advocates on either side, it is AT&T;’s layoff policy and treatment of its employees that have mobilized leaders of the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Together, the unions represent 135,000 AT&T; workers.
They will attempt to rally employees attending AT&T;’s “family night”--a tradition on the eve of the annual meeting--at 5 p.m. today at the Los Angeles Convention Center. AT&T; expects more than 1,000 of its Southland employees to turn out to preview exhibits set up for the shareholders meeting, nibble appetizers and listen to music and to remarks by AT&T; Chairman Robert E. Allen.
“AT&T; has no right to claim that it cares about employees’ families, when 13,500 workers were laid off in 1989 and 9,000 more will be discharged this year,” CWA’s national vice president, James Irvine, charged in a press release announcing the rally. “We want shareholders to understand that these layoffs are due to greed, not need. AT&T; made $2.6 billion in profits last year.”
Hector Fabela, president of local 9550 in Walnut and an AT&T; communications technician in San Bernardino, said the company is trying to reduce termination payments despite the signing last June of a three-year contract. Fabela said, under the contract as interpreted by the union, a laid-off employee with 20 years of service would be eligible for 56 weeks of pay, but that the company seeks to trim this to a 13-week maximum.
McDougall, the AT&T; spokeswoman, said the “downsizing” of the company is necessary because of increased competition and technological change. “Whenever you face downsizing, you’re going to have unhappy people,” she said. “The business is changing. It is becoming more technical and less labor intensive, and we need different kinds of skills now than those AT&T; traditionally needed.”
As to the rest of the meeting, shareholders are likely to hear mostly good news about the company. After taking a $1.67-billion loss in 1988--its first ever--AT&T; last year earned $2.7 billion in profits on sales of $36.1 billion, its best year since 1984, when it was forced to spin off its regional phone companies.
